<![CDATA[Poetry Forum - General Discussion and Polls]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/ Thu, 16 Jul 2026 22:33:37 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Why the Pauses?]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27471.html Sun, 05 Jul 2026 13:47:21 +0000 dukealien]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27471.html <![CDATA[Bye-bye Massive Datacenters.]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27462.html Wed, 01 Jul 2026 04:37:35 +0000 rayheinrich]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27462.html
Bye-bye massive datacenters.

There’s a big push toward halting the construction of the mega‑datacenters
and it's being forced on the big companies -- OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta,
Microsoft, Tesla, etc. -- by public outcry and legislation. The corporations are
responding by moving to distributed micro‑data centers the size of cargo
shipping containers. Walmart has about 4,600 stores in the US, which
makes it an obvious candidate for distributed micro‑data centers.
Big‑box retail already has the heavy electrical load, cooling, fiber, security,
and zoning baked in, so putting micro data centers in the back of these
stores is far faster and cheaper than building new massive datacenters
from scratch. And once you add the other chains: Target, Costco,
Home Depot, Lowe’s, large grocery store chains, even Dollar General (19,000)
etc. etc. you end up with a lots of existing infrastructure that could host
tens of thousands of micro data centers without waiting years for permits
or new construction.
(As an example, Tesla just announced their Megapod, which is basically a
micro data center in a box; a pre-wired, pre-cooled compute module they
can drop at the back of their existing Supercharger sites. Since Tesla
already has about 3,000 Supercharger stations in the US and roughly
8,500 worldwide, they can deploy Megapods quickly using infrastructure
that is already permitted, powered, cooled, and connected.

And also note: AI "inference" (what the industry calls actually running
the AI programs after they've been trained) is rapidly becoming more
efficient through smaller AI models, specialized chips, and more efficient
algorithms. So those giant growling megastructures will give way to
humming shoeboxes hidden behind places that already exist.

So yes, the Apocalypse is being implemented faster, cheaper,
and more discreetly than we ever could have expected.

P.S. But don't mistake my positive attitude for anything but glee in
watching a massive train wreck. Multinational corporations and
large countries do not have our best interests at heart.
The divide between rich and poor will become greater.
And the social disruption from AI is almost insignificant
compared to the societal destruction that global warming is causing.
That is the REAL big deal.]]>
Bye-bye massive datacenters.

There’s a big push toward halting the construction of the mega‑datacenters
and it's being forced on the big companies -- OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta,
Microsoft, Tesla, etc. -- by public outcry and legislation. The corporations are
responding by moving to distributed micro‑data centers the size of cargo
shipping containers. Walmart has about 4,600 stores in the US, which
makes it an obvious candidate for distributed micro‑data centers.
Big‑box retail already has the heavy electrical load, cooling, fiber, security,
and zoning baked in, so putting micro data centers in the back of these
stores is far faster and cheaper than building new massive datacenters
from scratch. And once you add the other chains: Target, Costco,
Home Depot, Lowe’s, large grocery store chains, even Dollar General (19,000)
etc. etc. you end up with a lots of existing infrastructure that could host
tens of thousands of micro data centers without waiting years for permits
or new construction.
(As an example, Tesla just announced their Megapod, which is basically a
micro data center in a box; a pre-wired, pre-cooled compute module they
can drop at the back of their existing Supercharger sites. Since Tesla
already has about 3,000 Supercharger stations in the US and roughly
8,500 worldwide, they can deploy Megapods quickly using infrastructure
that is already permitted, powered, cooled, and connected.

And also note: AI "inference" (what the industry calls actually running
the AI programs after they've been trained) is rapidly becoming more
efficient through smaller AI models, specialized chips, and more efficient
algorithms. So those giant growling megastructures will give way to
humming shoeboxes hidden behind places that already exist.

So yes, the Apocalypse is being implemented faster, cheaper,
and more discreetly than we ever could have expected.

P.S. But don't mistake my positive attitude for anything but glee in
watching a massive train wreck. Multinational corporations and
large countries do not have our best interests at heart.
The divide between rich and poor will become greater.
And the social disruption from AI is almost insignificant
compared to the societal destruction that global warming is causing.
That is the REAL big deal.]]> <![CDATA[Words]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27449.html Tue, 23 Jun 2026 20:58:38 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27449.html I’m not first person say this more efficient with words could be
I unfirst person say more efficient we with words be]]> I’m not first person say this more efficient with words could be
I unfirst person say more efficient we with words be]]> <![CDATA[Should poets have a union and pay union dues?]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27446.html Sun, 21 Jun 2026 00:01:32 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27446.html I can’t hire a Vietnamese construction crew to build a house in Central Park because for that I’d need to own the land, get permits, and get visas for the crew
So why should it be any different for poetry?

You should be a member of a poetry guild to write. Or pay a fine.
The guild could accept or reject you. 
A number of these guilds would form a master guild with a full time administrative layer.

Small business owners should be taxed to fund this. They’re philistines anyway (no offence to the actual philistines and sea peoples in the Bronze Age who resisted the savage invading Israelites)]]> I can’t hire a Vietnamese construction crew to build a house in Central Park because for that I’d need to own the land, get permits, and get visas for the crew
So why should it be any different for poetry?

You should be a member of a poetry guild to write. Or pay a fine.
The guild could accept or reject you. 
A number of these guilds would form a master guild with a full time administrative layer.

Small business owners should be taxed to fund this. They’re philistines anyway (no offence to the actual philistines and sea peoples in the Bronze Age who resisted the savage invading Israelites)]]> <![CDATA[Humanity is worthless]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27444.html Sat, 20 Jun 2026 05:48:09 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27444.html Why do they need taste buds? Edible and not being poison should be enough. That’s also why the Germans are successful. They fucked around with music in the 1700s and that was it. Off to the mines and the camps after that.

Think of all of the nonsensical time wasting baggage.
Family fun day Sunday excursions. The whole dating game. Funerals. Christmas dinner. Slaughtering goats on Eid. Wood carving. Cleaning. Sleeping pills and people making them.

If instead all of this energy was channeled towards space exploration we’d have been setting up heated bungalows on Titan by now. Reading Shakespeare.]]> Why do they need taste buds? Edible and not being poison should be enough. That’s also why the Germans are successful. They fucked around with music in the 1700s and that was it. Off to the mines and the camps after that.

Think of all of the nonsensical time wasting baggage.
Family fun day Sunday excursions. The whole dating game. Funerals. Christmas dinner. Slaughtering goats on Eid. Wood carving. Cleaning. Sleeping pills and people making them.

If instead all of this energy was channeled towards space exploration we’d have been setting up heated bungalows on Titan by now. Reading Shakespeare.]]> <![CDATA[Trump is a god]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27390.html Wed, 20 May 2026 22:23:40 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27390.html Not Hitler, nor Churchill, we don’t know about Stalin but clearly a lot of people loved him so maybe that’s a close one - likewise, Mao and Putin. And he’s also steered the ship well enough. The groundwork was laid by the great Joe Biden, but Trump has managed to keep the markets pumping. And he’s also made himself rich in the process, because what use is a leader who can’t look after himself?

He’s even cheated death thrice. Hitler just once, Jesus never. Actually, make that four times because he had a close shave with Vietnam.

Entirely unironically. Trump is the greatest leader to ever exist. Mohammed was also a great leader, but he led a hard and austere life in comparison. 

A hundred years from now, they’ll have named half the things in America after him. If you wanted to live during Trajan’s rule, now’s the chance to do better and move there by any means necessary.]]> Not Hitler, nor Churchill, we don’t know about Stalin but clearly a lot of people loved him so maybe that’s a close one - likewise, Mao and Putin. And he’s also steered the ship well enough. The groundwork was laid by the great Joe Biden, but Trump has managed to keep the markets pumping. And he’s also made himself rich in the process, because what use is a leader who can’t look after himself?

He’s even cheated death thrice. Hitler just once, Jesus never. Actually, make that four times because he had a close shave with Vietnam.

Entirely unironically. Trump is the greatest leader to ever exist. Mohammed was also a great leader, but he led a hard and austere life in comparison. 

A hundred years from now, they’ll have named half the things in America after him. If you wanted to live during Trajan’s rule, now’s the chance to do better and move there by any means necessary.]]> <![CDATA[Great and Terrible things]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27386.html Tue, 19 May 2026 18:23:40 +0000 rayheinrich]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27386.html ]]> ]]> <![CDATA[Should humour be banned?]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27367.html Sun, 10 May 2026 22:03:06 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27367.html Both races are industrious, while the English have been failing since the first quarter of the twentieth century, when literacy became widespread. Because people started spending too much time thinking of the perfect repartee to actually stoke the boilers and send their children down the mines.

The Americans have no sense of humour, and are hard working to a fault, like Trump, who tweets at all hours of the day. And they have been rewarded for it with oil in Texas and Canada. 

So in order to preserve civilisation, nothing funny should be allowed, on pain of death, also known as a Walmart loaf.]]> Both races are industrious, while the English have been failing since the first quarter of the twentieth century, when literacy became widespread. Because people started spending too much time thinking of the perfect repartee to actually stoke the boilers and send their children down the mines.

The Americans have no sense of humour, and are hard working to a fault, like Trump, who tweets at all hours of the day. And they have been rewarded for it with oil in Texas and Canada. 

So in order to preserve civilisation, nothing funny should be allowed, on pain of death, also known as a Walmart loaf.]]> <![CDATA[Where's the female view and does it matter?]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27361.html Sat, 09 May 2026 12:55:21 +0000 wasellajam]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27361.html
I don't think this is an issue in our workshops, it certainly isn't for me. A writer, a reader, a critic here each comes from their own experience and to me the workshops are, as they have always been, a collection of voices focused on the poem.

But I was wondering about it so, as usual, I vented to milo privately and, as usual, he provided a thought provoking response. So with permission:

milo Wrote:
wasellajam Wrote:(*snipped chitchat*) I was reading the film thread and thought This is so male weighted, I hope some women post. Then I realized oh shit, that would be me lol. I don't know why that is or what to do about it. Any thoughts on this?

Yah - it isn't just here, it is most online communities (although the absence is felt much more on a poetry workshop), men dominate forum posts on almost every subject while women dominate social media posts.

There have been numerous studies around this exact topic and from what I have read over the years:

Men tend to be more involved in discussion of topic while women are more about building communities and connections.

My guess would be that women don't feel as safe on anonymous discussion boards while some men feel too safe.

So I call bullshit on the studies, maybe men are on the surface debating some bullshit point but they seem to me to also remaking connections and are often community minded. And women will engage if they give a shit about the topic.

On milo's guess, it seems to me that an anonymous board would feel safer. Maybe. I'm still thinking about this.

This is not something I've thought about before so my opinions are fluid, I'd love to hear what you all think.]]>
I don't think this is an issue in our workshops, it certainly isn't for me. A writer, a reader, a critic here each comes from their own experience and to me the workshops are, as they have always been, a collection of voices focused on the poem.

But I was wondering about it so, as usual, I vented to milo privately and, as usual, he provided a thought provoking response. So with permission:

milo Wrote:
wasellajam Wrote:(*snipped chitchat*) I was reading the film thread and thought This is so male weighted, I hope some women post. Then I realized oh shit, that would be me lol. I don't know why that is or what to do about it. Any thoughts on this?

Yah - it isn't just here, it is most online communities (although the absence is felt much more on a poetry workshop), men dominate forum posts on almost every subject while women dominate social media posts.

There have been numerous studies around this exact topic and from what I have read over the years:

Men tend to be more involved in discussion of topic while women are more about building communities and connections.

My guess would be that women don't feel as safe on anonymous discussion boards while some men feel too safe.

So I call bullshit on the studies, maybe men are on the surface debating some bullshit point but they seem to me to also remaking connections and are often community minded. And women will engage if they give a shit about the topic.

On milo's guess, it seems to me that an anonymous board would feel safer. Maybe. I'm still thinking about this.

This is not something I've thought about before so my opinions are fluid, I'd love to hear what you all think.]]> <![CDATA[Grumpiness (Poll)]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27296.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:34:27 +0000 wasellajam]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27296.html <![CDATA[The Humanities and a University education]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27232.html Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:46:17 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27232.html The proliferation of finance and white collar service jobs meant over the last 50 years meant that you could study for a humanities degree and get a job in consulting if you were intelligent. This was particularly the case in Britain and Europe more generally, but also to a lesser extent in America.

What is the future of non-STEM fields? It's a duller world without them

https://www.businessinsider.com/recent-c...job-2026-3]]> The proliferation of finance and white collar service jobs meant over the last 50 years meant that you could study for a humanities degree and get a job in consulting if you were intelligent. This was particularly the case in Britain and Europe more generally, but also to a lesser extent in America.

What is the future of non-STEM fields? It's a duller world without them

https://www.businessinsider.com/recent-c...job-2026-3]]> <![CDATA[EVs]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27230.html Tue, 10 Mar 2026 15:49:50 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27230.html
I didn’t buy an EV 3 years ago because of limited infrastructure 
My next car will be an EV. Excellent value for money in the Chinese brands.]]>
I didn’t buy an EV 3 years ago because of limited infrastructure 
My next car will be an EV. Excellent value for money in the Chinese brands.]]> <![CDATA[Invasion Day and the future]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27055.html Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:05:40 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27055.html
The settlement of the new world, including Australia as part of that, is 250-300 years old for the most part. 12. That’s outside of the three-generation limit of living memory by quite a bit.

Why does the settlement of the new world need to be celebrated? It’s no different than Hitler celebrating the conquest of Eastern Europe if he’d won the war. 

The focus should be on settling Mars.]]>
The settlement of the new world, including Australia as part of that, is 250-300 years old for the most part. 12. That’s outside of the three-generation limit of living memory by quite a bit.

Why does the settlement of the new world need to be celebrated? It’s no different than Hitler celebrating the conquest of Eastern Europe if he’d won the war. 

The focus should be on settling Mars.]]> <![CDATA[Entirely unironically, is Trump the greatest man in history?]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27052.html Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:11:33 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27052.html An outsider, no political backing, just by sheer personality. It’s not just about wealth, because Bloomberg got a pasting.
Hillary Clinton had a solid chance and he made her into a comic villain. He destroyed her. 

Once elected, he fulfilled - as much as possible - his election promises
He alienated everyone around him, made enemies of friends, but still came out on top.

Facebook, Twitter banned him. He made Truth Social.

He tried to have his own beer hall putsch on Jan 6, but unlike Hitler he didn’t get thrown in prison but fought and defeated the judges. Then he got re elected.

This is just his politics.

On the personal front, 4 children and multiple wives. Incredible wealth. Top tier good looks as a young man. And one of the tallest presidents ever.

And he survived two assassination attempts

He’s not a loser like Hitler or a Napoleon, but a winner like no other. Even Alexander the Great died young, which is being a loser. Hannibal lost to Scipio. Caesar got stabbed. Shakespeare was bald before 50.

I can’t think of any human who’s achieved success like Donald Trumo. He should be made King.]]> An outsider, no political backing, just by sheer personality. It’s not just about wealth, because Bloomberg got a pasting.
Hillary Clinton had a solid chance and he made her into a comic villain. He destroyed her. 

Once elected, he fulfilled - as much as possible - his election promises
He alienated everyone around him, made enemies of friends, but still came out on top.

Facebook, Twitter banned him. He made Truth Social.

He tried to have his own beer hall putsch on Jan 6, but unlike Hitler he didn’t get thrown in prison but fought and defeated the judges. Then he got re elected.

This is just his politics.

On the personal front, 4 children and multiple wives. Incredible wealth. Top tier good looks as a young man. And one of the tallest presidents ever.

And he survived two assassination attempts

He’s not a loser like Hitler or a Napoleon, but a winner like no other. Even Alexander the Great died young, which is being a loser. Hannibal lost to Scipio. Caesar got stabbed. Shakespeare was bald before 50.

I can’t think of any human who’s achieved success like Donald Trumo. He should be made King.]]> <![CDATA[Why Trump is Jesus]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27050.html Thu, 22 Jan 2026 19:51:02 +0000 busker]]> https://www.pigpenpoetry.com/thread-27050.html Why Trump is Jesus come again

He was born a king, well - rich enough 

He never served in the military.

He apprenticed with his father, who was in the construction business. A builder. Tekton.

He doesn’t speak Greek, only his native tongue

Jesus was unmarried in his first coming. As Trump, he’s now making up for it

He accused black youths of rape. Jesus defended a woman accused of adultery.

He said the press made up fake news. Jesus accused the Pharisees and saducees of making stuff up 

A disease killed off the old in his time. A king killed babies in Jesus’s time, according to tradition.

He rose from the dead after his first term

He was put on trial by his enemies 

They tried to kill him, but unlike Jesus in his first avatar, Trump survived

Judas betrayed Jesus. Many tried to betray Trump, including Musk.

Jesus promised to rebuild the temple. Trump rebuilt a part of the White House.

Jesus threw out the moneylenders. Trump wants to upturn the banking system by promoting crypto 

The messiah would end all wars. Trump has already ended all wars.

Jesus went to heaven. Trump went to Epstein’s island.]]> Why Trump is Jesus come again

He was born a king, well - rich enough 

He never served in the military.

He apprenticed with his father, who was in the construction business. A builder. Tekton.

He doesn’t speak Greek, only his native tongue

Jesus was unmarried in his first coming. As Trump, he’s now making up for it

He accused black youths of rape. Jesus defended a woman accused of adultery.

He said the press made up fake news. Jesus accused the Pharisees and saducees of making stuff up 

A disease killed off the old in his time. A king killed babies in Jesus’s time, according to tradition.

He rose from the dead after his first term

He was put on trial by his enemies 

They tried to kill him, but unlike Jesus in his first avatar, Trump survived

Judas betrayed Jesus. Many tried to betray Trump, including Musk.

Jesus promised to rebuild the temple. Trump rebuilt a part of the White House.

Jesus threw out the moneylenders. Trump wants to upturn the banking system by promoting crypto 

The messiah would end all wars. Trump has already ended all wars.

Jesus went to heaven. Trump went to Epstein’s island.]]>